Overview: Maternity Care Practices
Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC)
CDC’s 2022 mPINC survey is now closed. We would like to extend a BIG THANK YOU to all the hospitals that submitted their 2022 mPINC survey. The data are now being cleaned and then analysis will begin. Check back here for updates or sign up for our CDC-mPINC-UPDATE listserv where we send out periodic updates about the status of the survey. If you would like to sign up please email mPINC@cdc.gov with your name and email address.
La encuesta de los CDC sobre las mPINC del 2022 ha finalizado. Nos gustaría expresar un GRAN AGRADECIMIENTO a todos los hospitales que completaron la encuesta del 2022 sobre las mPINC. Ahora se están depurando los datos y luego comenzará el análisis. Consulte este sitio para ver las noticias más recientes.
In the United States, nearly all infants are born in a hospital. Their stay is typically very short, but events during this time have lasting effects. Experiences with breastfeeding in the first hours and days of life significantly influence an infant’s later feeding. Several key supportive hospital practices can improve breastfeeding outcomes. Birth facility policies and practices that create a supportive environment for breastfeeding begin prenatally and continue through discharge, and include:
- Hospital policies—Written hospital policies support breastfeeding and are communicated to staff and patients.
- Staff training—Hospital requires breastfeeding education, clinical training, and competency verification for all maternity staff who work with breastfeeding families.
- Immediate skin-to-skin contact—Newborns are placed skin-to-skin with their mothers immediately after birth, with no bedding or clothing between them, allowing enough uninterrupted time (at least 1 hour) for mother and baby to start breastfeeding well.
- Early and frequent breastfeeding—Hospital staff help mothers and babies start breastfeeding as soon as possible after birth, with many opportunities to practice throughout the hospital stay.
- Teaching about breastfeeding—Hospital staff teach mothers and babies how to breastfeed and to recognize and respond to feeding cues.
- Exclusive breastfeeding—Hospital staff follow current evidence-based protocols for breastfeeding infants, and provide supplementary feedings only when medically necessary.
- Rooming-in—Hospital staff encourage mothers and babies to room together and teach families the benefits of this kind of close contact, including more opportunities to practice breastfeeding and learn their infant’s feeding cues.
- Follow-up after discharge—Hospital staff schedule follow-up visits for mothers and babies after they go home and connect families to community breastfeeding resources.
